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Incredible: Man, 64, who bonded with his 31-year-old wife over Taylor Swift insists they’ve never had an argument and have a great sex life despite their 34-year age gap
A couple with a 34 year age gap are still married after eight years – and claim they’ve ‘never had an argument’ and their sex life is ‘better than ever’.
Vann Thornton, 64, from Atlanta, Georgia met his wife, Courtney, 31, a photographer, when they were aged 56 and 22. They tied the knot in July 2016.
Retired teacher-turned-musician, Vann said: ‘She’s my best friend. In almost nine years of being together, we have never had an argument.
Courtney is ‘step-gran’ to his four grandchildren, and is just four years older than the youngest of them.
Vann also said their sex life is better than ever, but warns against all couples with a 30 year age gap getting married.
Vann said: ‘We just get along. We sit here with each other all day long, every day. She does her stuff, I do my stuff and we’ll sit and talk.
‘That’s not to say we don’t get upset, but we have never had anything other than a tense discussion.
‘We are better today than we were when we met. I love her more than I did when we went to bed. I just made her breakfast now. I am lucky’.
Courtney added: ‘The fact he has kids and grandkids doesn’t bother me at all. We’re a match made in heaven’.
The couple met when he was helping her find musicians for an event. They bonded over their love of music and similar interests, and their relationship blossomed.
Courtney became a step-gran at the age of 26 to Vann’s four grandchildren – now aged 20, 17, 15 and seven – and says they jokingly call her ‘grandma’.
However Vann says he would warn against couples with a 30 year age gap getting married.
‘I don’t suggest it for anybody. You’ve got to have something in common. I tell people we didn’t go into this intending to be in love and be married.
‘I wasn’t looking for a 22-year-old and she wasn’t looking for a 56-year-old – we just clicked. I’m much happier with her than I am without her’.
Vann and Courtney have the same music taste like Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Train and love to watch the same TV shows – like The Office.
‘We like a lot of the same things,’ he said. ‘She was raised in a home where they watched old TV shows from the 60s that I was raised on – so if I make a reference to an old TV show, she knows what I’m talking about.
‘I am a Swiftie all the way. We love Reputation, we sang and we danced in the living room.’
Vann also said that their sex life is better than ever: ‘There’s a viewpoint that your sex drive gets less as you get older – it doesn’t have to,’ he said.
Courtney decided she didn’t want to have children ‘in this economy’ and Vann’s children from his first marriage – who are older than Courtney and in their 40s – ‘love her’.
‘All four of Vann’s kids completely accepted me as part of the family,’ she said.
‘I was 26 years younger than Vann’s oldest kid, Billy, who’s now 39, so I was surprised at how well they accepted me.
‘The key to our relationship is that we always communicate with each other, avoiding arguments, and that we try to embrace each others age.
‘I don’t think an age gap relationship is for everybody, but it’s right for us and I’m filled with happiness that I have finally found my forever soulmate’.
Vann added: ‘They love her. ‘[When Courtney met them] it was kind of odd – my kids are in their 40s. There was never an argument.’
Courtney’s father is a similar age to Vann, which Vann says he doesn’t care about.
Vann said: ‘You don’t have to love the same things, but you have to be able to see things from the other person’s perspective.
‘Don’t be her dad. You have the barrier of a 30-plus year gap in time where she wasn’t alive and I was.
‘To me, it’s the same as if you come out that you’re gay, or celibate or want to be a priest – there is a stigma attached to it.
‘Life is too short to worry about what other people think’.